


Santa's Helper

by chaosminion



Series: Tiny Tots [1]
Category: Loki - Fandom, Marvel, Thor - Fandom
Genre: Christmas one shot, Gen, Human AU, Loki has a few surprises of his own, Loki is a perceptive toddler, Momma frigga, Odin is a good dad, Papa Odin, Teenage!Thor, Thor tries, Thor wants to make Loki's Christmas magical, Toddler!Loki, Twas the Night Before Christmas, christmas tradition, no one can fool Loki, teeth aching cuteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 04:10:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9106096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaosminion/pseuds/chaosminion
Summary: Thor is excited to carry on a family Christmas tradition, but finds that his baby brother is a lot more perceptive than he realizes.





	

**Author's Note:**

> It's a few days late from Christmas, but I got it up before the New Year! 
> 
> Someone requested more Toddler!Loki so I complied. <3

“Nighty night, Loki! Tomorrow we will see if Santa brought you any presents!”

Thor tucked his baby brother into his toddler bed, telling Loki good night and kissing his sweet little brow. Then he tiptoed out the door, while Loki's watchful eyes followed him. Half an hour he came back to check on the boy and Loki was fast asleep, hugging his stuffed dragon close to him, his chest rising and falling gently. Thor poked him to to be sure, but Loki did not stir.

The teenager scurried back down the stairs and gathered everything he would need, chuckling with ill concealed humor as he fantasized about the morning.

From the couch next to the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree, his mother watched while sipping her cocoa, a smile playing about her lips.

“I'm not so sure that is going to work on Loki,” she said, stirring her drink absently.

Thor looked up from where he was sprinkling powdered sugar on the floor.

“What? Why not? You and Father used to do this for me, and I loved it!”

Frigga made a face, amusement crinkling the lines on the sides of her eyes. She wasn't _old_ , Thor told himself. Just wise.

“Yes, but you were a different child from Loki,” she said.

“What does that mean?” Thor demanded, placing his hands on his hips.

“She means that you were easily gullible, and Loki isn't,” came his father's gruff voice from the other room.

Frigga snickered as Thor protested, then went back to his preparations with a hurt expression.

“I have to _try_ ,” he muttered, sprinkling more sugar. “He's old enough to understand. I want it to be _special_.”

Frigga sipped her drink, withholding her comments. Somehow she thought she was right, but only the morning would tell. For now she watched her son move about the room with joy shining on her face. It was so comforting to know that her boys loved each other, despite the differences in ages. When she and Odin had first talked about adopting, she wasn't sure that Thor would be easily persuaded. But one look at the green eyed baby, and Thor was lost.

She could indulge Thor, and watch the events unfold.

Christmas morning had hardly gotten started, when Frigga and Odin were awoken by the sounds of tiny feet pat pattering down the hallway towards their room. Then they went passed their room, and a deep chuckle emanated from Thor's.

“Morning, Lok-Lok! Are you ready to see if Santa came by last night?” Then the little feet were joined by much bigger ones as they jumbled down the steps.

Odin groaned and sat up with a yawn, reaching for his dressing gown. “This will be fun,” he grinned sleepily at his wife.

“Hush, don't spoil it,” Frigga said, suppressing her chuckles.

The two parents walked stately down to the sight of Loki in his bright green elf pajamas, staring intently at the floor. There were big shoe prints made in white powder that looked like it could be snow, and the toddler was rubbing his eyes and blinking.

Thor was making the biggest, falsest, shocked face he could.

“Wow, Loks! Look at these! I wonder who made them?”

Together Loki and Thor followed the trail of boot prints from the living room to the fireplace. Thor had done a very good job.

Frigga and Odin waited, preparing to look just as surprised as Thor.

Loki looked at the prints. Then he looked at the chimney.

Then he pointed straight at his brother. “Twor! Twor feet!”

Odin snorted behind Frigga's back, and she had to elbow him harshly.

Thor looked completely nonplussed. “N-no, Loks. It's Santa's feet, isn't it? Look, he even came down the chimney! Maybe next time we will put a rug down for all the snow, eh?”

The toddler leaned down and used his hand to spread the powder around. Then he brought a finger to his mouth and licked it.

“No shnoh!” He declared, leaving a sugary print on his chin. “No shnoh! Twor feet!”

He ran to the front door where they kept their shoes and hauled one of Thor's boots back over to the living room, settling it on top of a print where it was a perfect match. Thor watched it all, his mouth hanging slightly open.

“The boy would make a fine detective,” Odin said while stroking his whitening beard.

Thor gave his father a hurt look, then tried again.

“But look, Loki! _Someone_ had to eat all these cookies, and drink this milk!”

Thor gestured to the plate that he and Loki had set out the night before. Loki looked at the plate, and the crumbs, then he hauled Thor to a chair, pushed him down, climbed up onto his lap, and forced Thor's mouth open, gazing down into his gullet as if he could spot the missing pastries.

“Twor ate em!” Loki said.

Frigga almost lost it at that point.

“How about some breakfast, boys?”

Thor looked like he was about to dissolve into tears, that is until Loki hugged him about his neck and puckered up his lips for a toddler kiss.

“Mewy Twissmas Twor,” Loki said.

Thor practically melted. He wrapped his thick arms about his brother and snuggled him tightly. “Merry Christmas, Loki. Can't blame a guy for trying, right?”

Odin made a couple of coughing sounds while he sat down and got comfortable. Frigga brought out orange juice and cinnamon rolls, a family tradition while they opened presents.

To everyone's surprise, instead of heading straight to the heap of colorful paper and bows, Loki got down on his knees and crawled beneath the sofa, emerging with three small packages that were horribly wrapped and covered in bits of tape.

Loki placed a sort of round package on Frigga's lap, and she lifted it up, so astonished she could barely speak.

“Loki... did you do this?” She asked. The toddler shuffled his feet, looking at the ground and nodded. Then he hastily placed a lumpy package on Odin's lap, and a flat one on Thor's. All three looked at each other.

Loki had wrapped each of them presents and then _hide_ them?

Frigga wondered what kind of school she would need to place him in.

Carefully she peeled away the stick tape, trying not to tear it, but having no luck in that regard, and found that her present was a rock. It was big enough to fit into her hand, and it was painted a bright green with random splotches of gold.

It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen!

Frigga lost it, succumbing to the tears as she squeezed her little boy and kissed him all over his precious face. “Loki, I love it! Momma is so proud of you! My favorite colors!”

Odin unwrapped his package and found some sort of clay animal. Was it a spider? It had eight legs. No wait! It was... a horse? It had a body and tail like one, although the face was a little squished. But still... eight legs...

Odin beamed at the child. “It's splendid, my boy! That deserves a place of honor on my work desk!”

Little Loki puffed out his chest with pride.

Thor carefully opened his package with shaky hands. What on earth could Loki had made him that was so flat?

It was a piece of paper, folded up. Thor straightened it out and turned it to find a picture of... himself? Was that him? The crudely drawn figure had flowing yellow hair, very long, as in Rapunzel long, and it looked like a viking helmet. Or bull horns. He had a hammer in one hand and it looked like lightning was shooting from the tip. Thor chuckled, thinking it was because he had just recently built Loki a tree house. There was also a cape attached to his shoulders, and it was bright red. Thor's mouth was wide open in some sort of roar. Or perhaps he was screaming.

Glancing up, Thor noticed that Loki was watching him intently, and turned his confused awe into a beaming smile.

“Loks! Did you draw this? It's wonderful! I have never seen a better likeness!”

The boy pointed to a line of letters at the top, and Thor saw the message that was obviously written by an adult.

 _Draw Your Hero_.

It hit Thor like a bolt of lightning. This was a picture from Loki's daycare, and he had been asked to draw his hero. And Loki had drawn... _him_.

Thor's eyes were swimming with tears, his emotions choking in his throat as he reached for Loki and crushed him to his chest. The boy squirmed for a better grip, then wrapped his arms around Thor's neck, squeezing him back.

Frigga reached for the paper, took one look at it, then also burst into tears. Who knew that Loki was so talented at his age?

She shifted until she was next to her boys, wrapping her arms about them and adding her hug to Thor's. Then Odin joined the pile, hugging his entire family to himself, as they all exclaimed over Loki's Christmas surprises.

In the middle was the little boy, smug in his cozy circle of family love, knowing full well that he had them in the palm of his widdle hands.

 

PRESENT DAY

 

“Awww, Thor! Look what I found while cleaning up your room!”

Both Thor and Loki looked up from the floor where they were picking up their Christmas presents from underneath the tree. Thor, at thirty years old, was in his prime, his arms twice the size as they were in high school. Loki, at 18, was finally growing out of his coltish limbs, and had grown his hair out since he graduated, giving him a softer look.

Loki's eyes widened with horror at the same instant Thor's face light up with delight.

“Where did you find it?” Thor asked, scrambling to his feet and taking the picture frame from his mother. Inside was Loki's first drawing of Thor, from when he was a toddler, a little faded with age, but just as precious.

“Burn it!” Loki shouted from the floor, hiding his face.

“Never!” Both his mother and brother countered. Frigga shielded the frame from her youngest and glared.

“Guys!” Loki whined. “Why did you keep it? It's _horrible_!”

“It's the best thing you've ever made me!” Thor laughed, examining the drawing of himself for the first time in years.

“I kept my rock,” Frigga gloated. “And your father has his... animal.”

“Alien!” Came Odin's voice.

“It's a horse!” Loki shouted back. “I was three!” Despite the argument, he was fighting a losing battle with a massive grin. It made him warm inside that his family had kept his gifts all these years.

“Why a hammer, brother?” Thor asked, turning the picture. “And lightning?”

Loki blushed. “It... I think it was because I saw you building.... and I wanted your superpower to be calling the storm.”

Thor's grin split his face. “That's awesome!”

“Shut up,” Loki muttered, hiding his face again. This was so embarrassing.

“Come on, Loki, I love it! I always have! It's my favorite gift.”

Loki peeked out from behind his fingers. “Oh really? Then I suppose my present this year won't compare then?”

Thor considered that for a moment before sitting down and reaching with a greedy hand. “Gimme.”

Snorting in amusement, Loki picked up a flat parcel from the tree and handed it over. Thor was eager, but careful, in ripping the paper.

He was confused for a split second, seeing a picture of a beefy man in a futuristic suit and a dashing red cape, flying across a page with a hammer in one extended hand. Then he read the words plastered across it and realized just what it was.

“Loki!”

“What, what?” Frigga demanded, leaning over Thor's shoulders. “What is it??”

“It's... It's a comic book cover!” Thor said with awe. “And it's... about me?”

Loki had to press his face into a pillow. “Not _about_ you. Just... based on you. I- I waited to tell you guys that... that I got the internship at the comic producer and- and I presented this idea and my boss liked it so much that he let me-”

Odin's feet came stomping into the room, and he bent over to look at the cover in Thor's hands, then turned to his youngest with a beaming smile.

“Eighteen and already with an internship and producing quality covers? Loki, I could not be more _proud_!”

They all exclaimed over the art, and Thor even tried to pose just like the hero on the cover, but he was lacking the flowing cape and the viking helmet. On the floor, Loki was giggling like a maniac, telling his parents about the job and his art classes, glowing with the happy knowledge that he had a family that loved and supported him, despite the craziness he put them through.

Every Christmas was a happy memory.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Toddler Loki is so cute, I die.


End file.
